Thursday, July 27, 2017

Dealer Spotlight: James Jefferson

In 1992, James Jefferson was looking for part-time work and
even though he knew nothing about it, he decided to start digging graves. That
may sound far-fetched, but not for a man who replaces 0% know-how with 100%
hustle. He cold-called funeral homes, learned on the go and grew to become a strong
presence in the industry… and at Trigard.

“I was at a graveside service, when
a gentleman from another area brought a Trigard burial vault product I had never
seen before. It caught my eye. Soon after that, a funeral director told me that
he wanted another option for burial vaults. So, for a couple years, I bought
Trigard vaults directly from another company, but when he went out of business,
I was left with no vaults. I told my wife that night, ‘We need to start making
burial vaults.’ She asked, ‘How are we going to make vaults?’ I said, ‘I don’t
know, but we’re going to figure it out.’

“I love being aggressive. I love
looking at the overall structure of my company and seeing what we can improve.
Being able to set a goal and seeing it come to reality is a huge passion of
mine.”

Today, James owns the Southside Grave and Vault Inc. in Skipwith,
Virginia. His business has expanded to include a full-service monument and
headstone company, too.

“When I first started, there was
competition within 100 miles on all four sides of me,” said James. “If I wasn’t
willing to grow into their areas, those guys would have stomped me out. We
decided to grow. Our footprint expanded. We built relationships with other guys
in the area and we were actually able to stomp out our competition.”

One way that James sparked growth was by taking advantage of
Trigard’s openness to innovation and created his own distribution chain. He
pours vaults and sells vaults in bulk to others who then finish the vaults and
setup at cemeteries. James believes this system works because it is based on
strong relationships.

“You have to manage your business
and the relationships within your business. You have to hold everyone
accountable. It works out well, but both parties must display professionalism.
There is a level of trust that must be established, and there has to be room
for everyone involved to get a piece of the pie. It is in everyone’s best
interest for things to work that way.”

James’ growth also comes his commitment to education because
he knows that we can’t assume that families understand the importance of the
burial vault.

“One time, we were at the graveside
waiting to proceed with the internment and the director, who we hadn’t worked
with before, kept looking at his watch. He asked if he could leave. I said, ‘Well
I’m going to do the same thing whether you’re here or not, so go ahead.’ After
a while, the family kept looking at me and told me I could get started.

“So, I started closing and lowering
the vault below the surface of the ground. The family said, ‘Whoa, wait a
minute, it’s too deep! We wanted this to be above the ground.’ In the African
American market, in some sections of the country, they use what is called an above ground vault. It is where the cover
of the vault is not buried and is seen above the ground. The family continued,
“If we would have known the vault would be fully buried, we wouldn’t need a
vault!’ I stopped lowering and asked politely ‘Why did you choose to have a
burial vault?’ The family answered, ‘We wanted something to protect the casket
from the water and the dirt.’ I replied, ‘Well that’s exactly what a vault is
designed to do.’ The family responded with ‘Well no one ever told us that.’

James learned from that experience and adapted. As a result,
he has built trust and respect with the people he works with.

“I think it’s important that families
know we provide a product and service to help them through one of the last
things they can do for their loved one. We take pride in that, and we cherish
the opportunity to be able to help them. We want to be looked at as experts.
For example, a friend of mine recently called me and said he was considering
disinterring his parents. He wanted to know how I felt about that. It’s
rewarding to me to know that he places that trust in me. He believes that I
will help him come to an ethical and gratifying decision.”

James also reaches out for help as tool for growth.

“I also hired an independent firm
about 7 or 8 years ago. I was trying to get a general idea of what the
cremation rate growth might be in my area. According to the trends at that
time, my potential to grow was strong and we’ve yielded some of that. It was
well worth the investment. What a lot of people don’t realize is that the state
and local government have programs in place to help assist people like me with
that kind of thing.”

His efforts have paid off. He has expanded in space,
employees and business approaches.

“We have one manufacturing plant in
Chase City, Virginia.” We started off with a small 51’ x 84’ building. We
worked with that until we literally could not grow anymore. It became apparent
to me that if we are going to grow, we need a larger building, so we built a
new building about 5 years ago.”

In that new building,James typically has 18 employees putting in a hard day’s work.

“I try to hand pick them. I don’t
want to go to the unemployment office and grab anyone whose applying. I’ll
usually ask current employees for suggestions, and I’ll do some ‘recon’ work to
find the right fit.”

Speaking of great fits, James believes he and Trigard are a
good match.

“Trigard is very accessible. You
listen. When I originally approached Trigard I said, ‘To be honest, I come from
the poor side of town. I’m not looking to be treated special or anything. I
just want to be treated fair. I just need an opportunity.’ In all the years
that I’ve been involved with Trigard, I’ve been treated fairly. Big Jim made
Trigard very accessible for someone like me who was a nobody in the industry at
that time.”

There is no way to speak with James and not feel optimistic
about the future of our industry. His focus on the future is through a
different lens --a lens that sees only opportunity!